1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stand apparatus mounting electronic equipment in a plurality of orientations, to electronic equipment using the stand apparatus and to an accessory apparatus for expanding the functions of the electronic equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The majority of electronic equipment is conventionally configured to be used with a stand apparatus which is either an attachment thereto or one for purchase. For instance, a portable camera such as a digital camera has also been configured as such. Such a stand apparatus charges the battery installed in the camera with AC power as the installed state when the camera is set in the accessory apparatus.
Also, a lot of portable electronic equipment is generally configured to include only basic and necessary functions therein, and not auxiliary or expansive functions, for size and cost limitations. In such cases, an external apparatus with the above noted auxiliary and expansive functions is prepared to provide for a user as an accessory apparatus for the above noted electronic equipment either by a standard set or for purchase.
For instance, what has been proposed is an accessory apparatus which holds a digital camera and comprises a charging function for charging the digital camera being held and a hard disk for accumulating the image data photographed by the digital camera, et cetera (e.g., a Japanese patent laid-open application publication No. 2000-312325: refer to the abstract and FIGS. 2 and 3).
Also, what has been proposed is another apparatus which houses a digital camera and further includes a printer in addition to the above noted functions (e.g., a Japanese patent laid-open application publication No. 06-351012: refer to the abstract and FIG. 1).
Incidentally, the outer shape of a digital camera varies with the camera, far from uniform, so that the stand apparatus is prepared for each camera uniquely. Also, the recent stand apparatuses are equipped with not only a function of charging the camera battery, but also the functions of camera stand for viewing photographed images displayed in the display apparatus of the camera, connecting for data communications between the camera and external equipment, et cetera, by supplying the AC power as power source therefor.
The orientation of a camera when installing in a stand apparatus may not be important if it is just for charging the battery, the above noted case, however, requires the orientation of the installed camera be changeable depending on the function to be used.
For instance, the display surface is necessary to face the front for displaying an image, while the lens is necessary to face the front for photographing an image, when the camera is mounted on a stand apparatus.
This requires not only the housing part of the stand apparatus be featured for accommodating the camera in any orientation, but also the connecting part thereof with the camera be configured for accommodating the camera connector in any orientation.
Especially when the orientation of the camera is in reverse, that of the receptacle with the camera connector is likewise, and therefore a usual configuration cannot accommodate such a case.
Accordingly, a proposal has been made, in which a charging and communication between a camera and stand apparatus are respectively performed in non-contacting ways, for example (e.g., refer to a Japanese patent laid-open application publication No. 2003-087620). Also, another example has been proposed for setting up pin array symmetrically in two ways (e.g., refer to a Japanese patent laid-open application publication No. 2003-198910).
Yet another camera has been proposed in which a display apparatus is positioned to cover the front of the camera for protecting the lens at the time of not photographing, while the display apparatus is swung to the overhead of the camera from the front thereof for opening the lens in the front thereof and facing the display apparatus to the photographer at the time of photographing (e.g., refer to a japanese patent laid-open application publication No. 11-258657).